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1981 in literature
The year 1981 in literature involved some significant events and new books. Events *PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction given for the first time *John Gardner successfully revives the James Bond novel series originated by Ian Fleming with Licence Renewed (not counting a faux biography of Bond and a pair of film novelizations, the first original Bond novel since 1968's Colonel Sun). The revived Bond book series would run uninterrupted until 2002. New books *Kingsley Amis - The Golden Age of Science Fiction *Martin Amis - Other People *Louis Auchincloss - The Cat and the King *René Barjavel - Une rose au paradis *Samuel Beckett - Ill Seen Ill Said *Pierre Berton - Flames Across the Border *Judy Blume - Tiger Eyes * Simon Bond- 101 Uses for a Dead Cat *William Boyd - A Good Man in Africa *Peter Carey - Bliss *Raymond Carver - What We Talk About When We Talk About Love *David Case - The Third Grave *James Clavell - Noble House *Roald Dahl - George's Marvellous Medicine *L. Sprague de Camp - The Hand of Zei *L. Sprague de Camp & Catherine Crook de Camp - Footprints on Sand *Bernard Cornwell **''Sharpe's Eagle'' **''Sharpe's Gold'' *Samuel R. Delany - Distant Star * Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children *Régine Deforges - La Bicyclette Bleue (The Blue Bicycle) *Cynthia Freeman - No Time for Tears *John Gardner - Licence Renewed *Charles L. Grant - Tales from the Nightside *Alasdair Gray - Lanark *Jan Guillou - Ondskan *Thomas Harris - Red Dragon *Frank Herbert - God Emperor of Dune *Douglas Hill - Planet of the Warlord *Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp - The Flame Knife *John Irving - Hotel New Hampshire *Alan Judd - A Breed of Heroes *Ismail Kadare - The File on H (Dosja J) *Stephen King - Cujo *Colleen McCullough - An Indecent Obsession *Elliot S! Maggin - Miracle Monday *Naguib Mahfouz - Arabian Nights and Days *Gabriel García Márquez - Chronicle of a Death Foretold *Ian McEwan - The Comfort of Strangers *Toni Morrison - Tar Baby *Robert B. Parker **''A Savage Place'' **''Early Autumn'' *Terry Pratchett - Strata *Alain Robbe-Grillet - Djinn *Harold Robbins - Goodbye, Janette *Lawrence Sanders - The Third Deadly Sin *Martin Cruz Smith - Gorky Park *Muriel Spark - Loitering with Intent *Paul Theroux - The Mosquito Coast *D. M. Thomas - The White Hotel *Jack Vance - The Book of Dreams *Gore Vidal - Creation *Joseph Wambaugh - The Glitter Dome *Kit Williams - Masquerade *Gene Wolfe **''The Claw of the Conciliator'' **''The Sword of the Lictor'' *Roger Zelazny **''The Changing Land'' **''Madwand'' New drama *John Krizanc - Tamara *Larry Shue - The Nerd *Tennessee Williams - The Notebook of Trigorin Poetry *L. Sprague de Camp - Heroes and Hobgoblins *Norman Nicholson - Sea to the West *Richard L. Tierney - Collected Poems Non-fiction *Maya Angelou - The Heart of a Woman *Hugo Brandt Corstius - Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde *Timothy Findley - Famous Last Words *Stephen Jay Gould - The Mismeasure of Man *Ian Smith - The Great Betrayal *Viktor Suvorov - The Liberators Births * July 10 - Karen Russell Deaths * January 9 - A. J. Cronin, novelist * March 7 - Bosley Crowther, film critic * March 20 - Pedro García Cabrera, poet * April 26 - Robert Garioch, poet (b. 1909) * May 9 - Nelson Algren, novelist * May 18 - William Saroyan, novelist and dramatist * June 15 - Philip Toynbee, novelist and journalist * September 3 - Alec Waugh, novelist * September 12 - Eugenio Montale, poet Awards * Nobel Prize for Literature: Elias Canetti Australia * The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Chris Matthews, Al Jazzar; Tim Winton, An Open Swimmer * Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Alan Gould, Astral Sea Canada * See 1981 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards. France * Prix Goncourt: Lucien Bodard, Anne Marie * Prix Médicis French: François-Olivier Rousseau, L'Enfant d'Édouard * Prix Médicis International: David Shahar, Le Jour de la comtesse United Kingdom * Booker Prize: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: Robert Westall, The Scarecrows * Cholmondeley Award: Roy Fisher, Robert Garioch, Charles Boyle * Eric Gregory Award: Alan Jenkins, Simon Rae, Marion Lomax, Philip Gross, Kathleen Jamie, Mark Abley, Roger Crowley, Ian Gregson * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children, and Paul Theroux, The Mosquito Coast * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Victoria Glendinning, Edith Sitwell: Unicorn Among Lions '' * Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: D. J. Enright * Whitbread Best Book Award: William Boyd, ''A Good Man in Africa United States * Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Kathy Calloway, Heart of the Garfish * American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Belles Lettres: Malcolm Cowley * Dos Passos Prize: Gilbert Sorrentino * Nebula Award: Gene Wolfe, The Claw of the Conciliator * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Katherine Paterson, Jacob Have I Loved * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Beth Henley, Crimes of the Heart * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: John Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: James Schuyler: The Morning of the Poem Elsewhere * Hugo Award for Best Novel: The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge *Premio Nadal: Carmen Gómez Ojea, Cantiga de aguero External links * Category:Years in literature Literature, 1981 In Category:History of literature Category:Literature by year